Many years ago, I took a seminary class that required us to read a Proverb a day for the development of our character while renewing our minds. It was much like the old adage, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” for our physical health; but this discipline became vital to our spiritual health! I especially loved reading the Proverb a day from the Message paraphrase by Eugene Peterson as it was our language for our time and God’s wisdom made perfect sense!
The wisdom words and truth bombs of this book get our attention then cause us to remember what Jesus was taught us about Kingdom of God thinking on the Sermon on the Mount! God thinks and acts higher and greater than we do as His created humans jaded by living in a broken, sinful world. The way God thinks and responds is always counter to what the world thinks of as good and right. “That will do” is not God’s thinking for He teaches us to go beyond what is necessary to help others know Him while declaring His glory! What He says to do as we walk with Him, will always be greater than what is required in the world’s way of thinking and responding. (See Matthew 5-7 as references to living an upside down kingdom way of life.)
However, before Jesus came to demonstrate how God thinks and responds to life, there is Proverbs. This book causes all readers to stop and think about the depth of our own character’s integrity when it comes to living a life with the wisdom of God as our desired discipline of “walking humbly with God”. (Micah 6:8) The words written in Proverbs come through Solomon, son of David, who asked for God’s wisdom to begin to lead the Kingdom of Israel. Oh, if all our leaders would read a proverb a day and take the truth to heart! I wonder if…
In this next chapter, we continue with words that are very personal, like father to son personal. There are many “if you…” statements of truth, with consequences for not following truth. Let us pray, asking for God’s Holy Spirit to lead us as we read, listen, and meditate of how these words will enrich the grow of our own spiritual lives.
Proverbs 2
Moral Benefits of Wisdom
2 My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,
2 turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding—
3 indeed, if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
4 and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,
5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
6 For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
7 He holds success in store for the upright,
he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,
8 for he guards the course of the just
and protects the way of his faithful ones.
9 Then you will understand what is right and just
and fair—every good path.
10 For wisdom will enter your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
11 Discretion will protect you,
and understanding will guard you.
12 Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men,
from men whose words are perverse,
13 who have left the straight paths
to walk in dark ways,
14 who delight in doing wrong
and rejoice in the perverseness of evil,
15 whose paths are crooked
and who are devious in their ways.
16 Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman,
from the wayward woman with her seductive words,
17 who has left the partner of her youth
and ignored the covenant she made before God.
18 Surely her house leads down to death
and her paths to the spirits of the dead.
19 None who go to her return
or attain the paths of life.
20 Thus you will walk in the ways of the good
and keep to the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright will live in the land,
and the blameless will remain in it;
22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
and the unfaithful will be torn from it.
WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?
God is wisdom. God has the power, with desire, to give us His wisdom with power to obey His wisdom—just ask Him! And when we ask, God will not decide like earthly humans to evaluate if we deserve it or have earned it. God gives wisdom to all sincere hearts and minds who ask for wisdom! A hidden gem in the “count it all joy” opening of James, leapt off the page for me years ago;
“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” James 1:5
We can be at our lowest in life but if we ask for God’s wisdom—He gives without finding fault with lectures on how we should have been before we fell without His wisdom to guide us! Coming to God means forgiveness. I don’t know about you, but in our world of guilt-ridden people who abused others with pouring on the guilt; this is THE GOOD NEWS of salvation and redemption with restoration all wrapped up again in this statement of God’s relentless love with His compassionate mercy and unending grace.
“IF ANY OF YOU” lacks wisdom, we can ask God—with no prerequisites required. We merely seek our Father God who desires to help His Created get back on the path to walking humbly with Him! God is the wisdom we seek. God is wisdom. The last help of Proverbs 2 declares all the reasons why to seek God’s wisdom for living—God’s wisdom will save us! Wisdom are skills for living and walking humbly with God on His path of good and right.
Need wisdom? Ask God. We can trust the God who made us and sent His Son to save us!
Lord,
Bless us with your wisdom today and forever! Cleanse our hearts, minds, and souls of all that is not of you and fill us with your wisdom that defines our character as a follower of you. Renew our minds to think more like you and less like the world around us that always drags us down. Refresh and reset our souls with your wisdom as our default setting. Restore unto us the joy of your salvation always at work within us to guide us on the path to walking humbly with you daily.
In Jesus Name, Amen
